Flat panel displays have become commonplace in American homes and businesses. Today, the term “flat plat display” encompasses a wide variety of electronic visual display technologies, including liquid crystal displays (LCDs), light-emitting diode (LED)-backlit LCDs, plasma display panels (PDPs), and electroluminescent displays (ELDs), to name a few. Unlike many modern technologies, the advancement of which have largely resulted in smaller and smaller device sizes, flat panel displays have grown larger in size as the market has progressed. Larger screen sizes provide increased surface area for presenting electronic visual displays, such as television shows, movies, or slideshow presentations. As flat panel displays have continued to grow in overall size, consumers have recognized the need to store such displays in a way that provides optimal utility without taking up significant floor space. One approach includes mounting a flat panel display on a wall. Wall-mounted flat panel displays not only avoid cluttering a room by obviating the need for an entertainment center or other bulky support structure, they also provide convenient, eye-level access for viewers.
But mounting a flat panel display on a wall presents certain challenges for consumers. One such challenge involves ensuring that a mounted flat panel is level with the plane of the floor. Although numerous flat panel display mounts are available on the market today, they are limited in their ability to offer easy and convenient post-mount leveling or height adjustments. Many flat panel displays must be repeatedly unmounted, adjusted, and remounted to achieve a level orientation or a desired height from the floor. Others include features directed to post-mount leveling or height adjustments, but in doing so add unnecessary bulk to the overall design (e.g., extra rails or cross-members that are otherwise unnecessary for supporting the mounted flat panel display). In doing so, they increase manufacturing costs, shipping expenses, and assembly complexity. Moreover, some such designs require consumers to obtain and use specialty driving tools, such as hex wrenches or a power drill. Often times, consumers are limited to the most basic of everyday tools (e.g., a screwdriver) and do not have the necessary specialty driving tools on hand. As a result, such designs impose an added expense either on the consumer, who must locate and purchase the specialty driving tool, or on the manufacturer, who must purchase and supply it to the consumer. In the latter case, the consumer sometimes unknowingly experiences an uptick in the retail price of the mount even when the manufacturer does include the specialty driving tool.
Thus, consumers need a leanly designed flat panel display mount that offers simple and easy-to-use leveling and height adjustments without requiring specialty driving tools.